A super-yacht built in secret for Saddam Hussein and put on sale by the Iraqi government last week is so outdated a shrine to the dictator’s love of gold, marble and mahogany that brokers say it will need an overhaul costing at least as much again as its £20m asking price.

The yacht, Basra Breeze, has Arabesque arches, dark wood carvings, deep pile carpets in lurid colours, rugs woven with views of holy cities, and gold taps. Workers at the Danish shipyard where it was built had to sign secrecy agreements before its launch in 1981 to ensure the Iraqi people never learnt about their ruler’s extravagant tastes.

Outside, there is a helipad for discreet arrivals and departures, but inside the décor is a monument to 1980s bad taste.

Blue carpets clash with a salmon pink canopy in the master bedroom. The colour schemes in other bedrooms are so loud that it is difficult to imagine sleeping in them. There is no gym, a luxury considered de rigueur for today’s super-rich.

The yacht came on the market after a court battle that pitched the Iraqi government against a Cayman Islands firm part-owned by King Abdullah of Jordan. The firm claimed he had been given the yacht by Saddam, who was hanged in December 2006. Since there were no documents to prove this, the Iraqi government won it back.

Basra Breeze was anchored off the millionaires’ resort of St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the south of France during the legal battle but is now believed to be somewhere off the Greek coast.

In the past few days brokers from Monaco to the Isle of Man have been sounding out possible buyers. “It would be naive to assume the market is unaffected by the economic climate, although the upper end of the yacht business is still robust,” said one broker. Vesa Kaukonen, a Monaco broker, added, perhaps optimistically, that “her history of ownership is a good selling point”.

Originally named Qadisiyah Saddam, after an ancient Arab victory, the vessel was renamed Ocean Breeze after Saddam’s overthrow and finally Basra Breeze after being returned to Iraqi ownership in the summer. During Saddam’s rule it had a crew of up to 35 on 24-hour call for their master in case he arrived unexpectedly.

The present Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki has no use for the yacht.

He and his ministers are too embroiled in political infighting in Baghdad to need its bulletproof atrium, which was built with state banquets in mind, complete with place settings for 200.

Even Saddam is said never to have stayed on his floating gin palace. Fearing a coup once he became president in 1979, he rarely left Iraq for any length of time, apart from occasional trips to Egypt and a visit to Cuba during which he and Fidel Castro discussed their back problems for hours.

Saddam’s obsession with his health is indicated by the yacht’s layout: there are two doctors’ surgeries and a mini-operating theatre. Also in evidence is his paranoia about security. Basra Breeze has a secret passage running her entire 272ft length that would have allowed him to escape to a fast patrol boat kept on board in case of trouble.

The vessel may even have been fitted with surface-to-air missiles, although that detail is missing from the brokers’ specifications making the rounds in London.

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